The Early Spring - Chapter 28

Chapter 28 - My Figure Is Great, You Won't Lose Out

Shang Zhitao discovered that working was a form of spiritual cultivation. Kitty suddenly reined in her hostility and started working diligently alongside her, which made Shang Zhitao's days a bit easier—though only just a bit.

During the half-month she spent in the mountains, she experienced more things than she had in four years of university. Work presented new problems every single day, and she found herself constantly leveling up to slay monsters. By the time she dragged her luggage back to Beijing, she even felt as though she had been utterly reborn.

Beijing had already entered autumn.

In this autumn, she was granted four days of compensatory leave, which felt like sheer bliss. Unfortunately, none of her roommates were around: Sun Yu had gone back to Guizhou to attend a wedding, while Zhang Lei and Sun Yuanxu were away on business trips. Shang Zhitao pulled the covers over her head and slept straight through the day, only opening her eyes by evening. Seeing that Yao Bei had called her several times, she quickly called her back. "Senior Sister."

"Are you free for dinner tonight?"

"Aren't you working?"

"Our department is having a team-building event today, so we got off early. I'll drive my car to pick you up. What do you want to eat?" Yao Bei asked.

"Yes, please! I'm getting out of bed right now. Anything is fine, I'm not a picky eater. Let me treat you, though—my company inexplicably gave me a bonus this month. Even though it's not much, it's still worth celebrating."

"You should save that little bit of money! Since you're not picky, let's go get some barbecue right by the university."

"Sounds great."

Shang Zhitao hadn't seen Yao Bei in a long time; come to think of it, it had been about three years. They hadn't met since Yao Bei graduated, but they had kept in constant touch. Standing by the roadside waiting for Yao Bei, she watched a compact car pull up in front of her, and Yao Bei hopped out. "Little Peach!"

Shang Zhitao lunged forward and hugged Yao Bei. "Senior sister." She was overflowing with happiness, to the point of almost wanting to cry. Seeing a familiar face and a piece of home in such a massive city was truly not easy.

After the two girls embraced for a moment, they parted, and Yao Bei said, "Let's go, or we'll have to wait in line."

"Okay!"

Yao Bei had changed a lot. A hairpin secured her hair at the back of her head, and a stylish trench coat made her figure look slender and gentle, leaving Shang Zhitao unable to look away. Yao Bei tapped her on the head. "If you keep staring at me like that, I'm going to start thinking your sexual orientation has changed."

Shang Zhitao let out a sheepish chuckle.

As Yao Bei drove, she glanced sideways at her. "Are you still in touch with Xin Zhaozhou?"

"No."

Shang Zhitao felt that her breakup with Xin Zhaozhou was different from most couples; they had genuinely wished each other well. Back then, Shang Zhitao had been heartbroken, crying on her roommate's shoulder and asking through her tears, "Why do we have to grow up? How wonderful would it be if we could stay juniors forever?"

Her junior year of college had been the absolute best time for Shang Zhitao and Xin Zhaozhou.

It was during that year, on the night they went stargazing, that Xin Zhaozhou and she experienced a crucial milestone of growing up. Shang Zhitao remembered the panic, the astonishment, and the beads of sweat on each other's faces. She had felt immensely brave.

"Is he still in Shenzhen now?" Yao Bei asked.

"Yes. Both of his parents are in Shenzhen, and since their family are new immigrants, the government has special policies. It's better than Beijing."

Life was like that, Shang Zhitao thought: he went south, she went north, and neither of them had any choice in the matter.

"Do you still miss him?" Yao Bei asked.

Shang Zhitao thought about it for a moment and shook her head. "I haven't missed him in ages. We broke up almost a year ago." The heartache had been real, but she also possessed a genuine streak of emotional denseness. When the two of them were together, things had been wonderful; after they broke up, she cried through a few sessions, grieved for a month or so, and then she was right back to being her carefree, thick-skinned self. Sometimes, she would spot Xin Zhaozhou on campus, and he would stubbornly turn his face away, refusing right up to the very end to forgive Shang Zhitao for not going with him.

Go where, exactly? Boys were selfish, assuming that if a girl loved someone, she ought to wander the ends of the earth with him, completely forgetting that they had legs too and could just as easily walk alongside the girl.

Yao Bei looked at Shang Zhitao and suddenly chuckled.

"What is it?" Shang Zhitao asked, her voice sweet and soft.

"You should date more often," Yao Bei said earnestly.

"Huh?"

"Otherwise, what do you even do when you're not working? It's the prime of your youth—what's the point of spending your evenings without a man wrapped around you?"

"Senior sister, you're an aerospace engineer..." Shang Zhitao reminded her. Hearing a woman devoted to scientific research casually say such things felt a bit surreal.

"Are aerospace engineers barred from having a sex life?" Yao Bei let out a bright giggle. "Let me ask you, how many months have you been in Beijing? Hasn't there been a single man who made your mouth water just a little?"

Suddenly, Shang Zhitao thought of Luan Nian—how he had been drunk, and the skin of his neck had scorched her fingertips. That fleeting thought she had entertained that day resurfaced: What is Luan Nian actually like?

Her face flushed slightly as she turned to look out the car window. That man Luan Nian was as cold as ice; even if he took off his clothes, he probably wouldn't warm up. When he was intimate with someone, he probably furrowed his brow with zero emotion, and he might not even know how to do any foreplay.

What on earth am I thinking? Shang Zhitao shook her head, trying to chase those bizarre thoughts out of her mind.

Yao Bei brought up her own relationship. "He says he wants to get married, but my parents say we can't tie the knot without a house."

"Well, what do you want?" Shang Zhitao asked her.

"His family carries a heavy burden with both parents living in the countryside, so retirement care is a major issue. I've become a bit more realistic now, you know? The women in our professional system all marry well." Yao Bei was no longer who she used to be. At twenty, a woman thought love was everything; but now, after being tempered by life, she knew that besides love, a woman needed a house and a car, and had to worry about her parents' retirement and her children's future education. There were simply far too many problems for a woman to consider. Stopped at a red light, Yao Bei sighed and said softly, "Taotao, I want to break up."

The last one had been Sun Yu, whose boyfriend cheated on her with a woman who had a great job and high educational background, aiming for their bright future prospects. Now, before her eyes, there was Yao Bei, who had seen through the hard realities of life and decided to hustle her way through this world. Shang Zhitao suddenly felt that once you stepped out of those campus walls, romantic love became completely out of reach.

She didn't know what to say. She herself was still stumbling blindly through this world, yet the experiences of those around her were all telling her one thing: romance is fragile to the point of shattering, and love isn't worth a single cent.

Besides, where would Shang Zhitao even find the time to care about all those romantic entanglements? Just staying alive was hard enough for her. She had to survive first! She couldn't keep asking Laoshang and Big Zhai for money anymore!

Yao Bei took her out for grilled skewers and insisted on ordering drinks. Shang Zhitao couldn't hold her liquor, but she proactively asked for a glass, then two, then three. Three beers down, before she had even eaten much food, she was already drunk. Retaining just a shred of sobriety, she called Lumi, her voice slurred: "Hello, Teacher Lumi, I've had too much to drink..."

Lumi barked down the phone, "Where are you? Which bastard did you go drinking with?"

Shang Zhitao giggled foolishly. Yao Bei snatched the phone away from her and told Lumi, "You must be Taotao's colleague, right? Both of us are plastered; do us a favor and come pick us up." She rattled off their location without treating herself as an outsider in the slightest.

Lumi was loyal to a fault. She threw on some athletic wear and hailed a cab. Arriving at the scene, she looked at the two women—one sprawled across the table, the other resting her chin in her palm. Well, at least they aren't causing a scene.

"You guys are unbelievable, seriously." Lumi pointed at Yao Bei. "You're the one who called me, right? Where are the car keys?"

Yao Bei handed her the car keys and watched as Lumi hoisted Shang Zhitao up, trailing closely behind them.

"Heh, what a piece of junk car!" Lumi muttered jokingly, shoving the two of them into the vehicle. Fortunately, Yao Bei wasn't too far gone and knew roughly where Shang Zhitao lived. After rummaging around for a long time, Lumi finally dug the keys out of the pocket of Shang Zhitao's overalls, supported her all the way home, and accidentally let her palm brush against Shang Zhitao's chest, giving it an unintended squeeze. "Damn, you've got some good assets!"

Taking advantage of her, Shang Zhitao didn't even forget to swat at Lumi's hand. That was how Lumi managed to drag her inside, help her rinse her mouth, wipe her face, fetch a glass of water, and then head back out to drop off Yao Bei. Lumi had no idea what kind of bad karma she had accumulated to deserve being run ragged by these two women late at night.

As for Shang Zhitao, she slept in a hazy stupor, waking up twice to drink water. Unsure whether the alcohol had worn off or not, she dazedly heard her phone ring. Still functioning on enough autopilot to answer it, she brought the screen into view and vaguely recognized Luke's face.

Oh~~~~ Luke, the guy who's going to fire me.

Waking up the next morning to sober up, Shang Zhitao tried hard to retrace the events of the previous night, but drew a complete blank after the moment Lumi dropped her off at home. She vaguely remembered answering a call and looking at her phone—yes, she had answered it, and it was from Luke.

Unable to recall a single word from that conversation, Shang Zhitao instantly jolted wide awake. After racking her brains for a long time, she decided to call him back.

Luan Nian rejected the call.

Shang Zhitao tried a second time, and he rejected it again.

Damn it.

Shang Zhitao cursed inwardly. What on earth did I say on the phone? She slapped her forehead, trying to reassure herself not to panic too much. After carefully drafting her wording, she sent him a message: "Hi Luke, I was drinking with a friend last night and saw your call when I woke up. Just wanted to check—did you give me any work tasks last night? If you did... what were they? Apologies, I genuinely cannot remember."

Luan Nian glanced at the message, tossed his phone aside, and went right back to leading his meeting. Shang Zhitao grew even more anxious and fired off a follow-up: "Was it a critically important work task?"

Luan Nian still left her on read.

The phone call from the previous night had convinced Luan Nian that Shang Zhitao had rocks in her head. Claiming she had no memory of what she said? Please.

Today's meeting was a tedious business progress review filled with endless numbers, spreadsheets, and lengthy text presentations. Things like this always drove Luan Nian up the wall. He loved simplicity; anything overly convoluted instantly aggravated him.

Finally unable to contain himself, he interrupted, "I'm not targeting anyone in particular, but today's business progress meeting is completely pointless." He gestured toward Alex. "Alex, what was Doris's estimated completion percentage for the South China region in Q3?" Expecting no such question, Alex blinked in surprise. "Over 90%?"

Without dwelling on it, Luan Nian turned to Doris instead. "What did Alex just say the rejection rate for the marketing department's budget applications was?"

"Around 70%?"

Luan Nian spread his hands. "All these sensitive figures are buried inside bloated information. If we spend an entire day in meetings like this, how much of it can anyone actually retain? It's pointless, a waste of time. Today's business progress reviews end here. Everyone, please go back, re-prepare your material, and let's reconvene tomorrow. My requirements are simple: make sure the important matters are explained clearly; ensure everyone understands the core progress; establish a firm consensus across all cross-functional collaborations; and provide actionable solutions for every single problem. Understood?"

"Right, absolutely. That makes sense." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Seeing that the room was getting tense, Tracy stepped in with a suggestion: "Then let's move on to the next agenda item: discussing the final schedule for the Greater China corporate anniversary celebration. We've already coordinated with the marketing and planning departments prior to the meeting. We'll hire an outsourced vendor to secure a high-end venue, invite previously collaborated artists to perform, and the promotional video is about to start filming. This year, we'll keep our traditional legacy segment: the senior executives' performance. All the bosses can discuss what kind of act they want to put on this year."

Noticing that Luan Nian remained silent, Tracy added, "Luke used to play in a band back in his college days. How about it—care to put on a solo act this year?" Within Lingmei, Tracy was the only person bold enough to hold Luan Nian's feet to the fire, and sure enough, Luan Nian's brow furrowed immediately. However, before he could open his mouth, Tracy pushed on: "This year marks Luke's first year heading the overall operations, so making a formal appearance to the rest of the company is quite essential."

Luan Nian despised performing on stage. Although he and his friends rented a rehearsal studio and occasionally went singing, that was purely for stress relief.

"Then it's settled." Tracy made the executive decision on Luan Nian's behalf, then winked at him. "I'll trouble everyone to brainstorm what to perform and what we need you to prepare. Later on, the corporate culture and marketing departments will form an anniversary project team to coordinate directly with each of the bosses."

As soon as Tracy and the others cleared out, she turned back to Luan Nian. "I proactively suggested your performance just now because it's your first year in the appointment, and people always feel like you're too distant. Too much detachment isn't good for your workflow. Please understand."

"You're awfully polite." Luan Nian let out a dry humph. "Got it, I'll arrange something."

"What are you going to perform?"

"A striptease."

"In that case, I'll speak for the company's female colleagues and start looking forward to it." With a laugh, Tracy turned and walked out.

Luan Nian picked up his phone and saw a message Shang Zhitao had sent three minutes ago: "Luke... I didn't... say anything inappropriate yesterday, did I..." Clearly, seeing that Luan Nian was ignoring her calls and messages had made her panic. Let her panic. What the hell does it have to do with me? Luan Nian tossed his phone aside again and went back to work.

Every single second of his silence was absolute torture for the cautious Shang Zhitao. Tossing and turning in bed, her mind raced with alarming possibilities: Did I mess up my work? Did I tell him, "You're firing me, who the hell do you think you are?" Did I fall asleep while talking to him?

Screw it, I'm calling one last time! With trembling fingers, she dialed Luan Nian again, and to her shock, heard his voice pick up. "What is it?"

"I..."

"You what?"

"I was drinking yesterday... and when I woke up today, I saw you called me yesterday..."

"Right. I was in a rush to review the shooting project's budget sheet yesterday."

"Oh, oh, oh. I'll send it to you right away." Shang Zhitao let out a long sigh of relief.

"No need, Alex already sent it to me."

"Then... I didn't say anything else, did I..."

"Such as?"

"I don't know..."

Too lazy to converse with her any further, Luan Nian hung up right then and there. ? Shang Zhitao's face was a map of question marks. Having lost any remaining mood to take time off, she canceled her leave that very day, rushed to the company early the next morning, and barrelled right into the elevator, only to find Luan Nian holding a cup of coffee inside.

"Morning, Luke." Shang Zhitao cautiously squeezed herself into a corner, stealing sidelong glances at Luan Nian. Why was he completely expressionless? Why was he... turning his head around? Before Shang Zhitao had time to avert her gaze, her nervous eyes collided directly with Luan Nian's.

Luan Nian raised an eyebrow, his gaze slowly traveling downward to linger on her chest for a split second before giving a slight shrug. That glance was utterly inexplicable, making Shang Zhitao's face flush bright red. What on earth is going on here?

Not bad, Luan Nian thought to himself. She actually lived up to her own boasts. What was it she said that day?

"Let me tell you, my figure is great, you won't lose out."

Luan Nian had never encountered anyone throwing themselves at him quite like that before. If she hadn't been completely sloshed, he would have fired her and kicked her out the exact same day. So much chaotic nonsense had tumbled out of her mouth; just because she drank a little booze, she forgot her own name. Stripping naked and expecting me to be interested? Does literally everyone want to crawl into my bed?

The elevator doors chimed open, and Luan Nian strode out with his long legs, leaving Shang Zhitao trailing behind him like a frost-bitten eggplant. She slumped despondently into her seat and tapped herself on the head. Come on, think! Actually remember what happened! Raising her head to look at Luan Nian, she saw he had already booted up his computer and started working.

The marketing department was over-the-moon ecstatic that she had cut her vacation short. With so much work piling up, Shang Zhitao's return felt like the dawning of a new day. After a brief discussion among themselves, they dumped the corporate anniversary coordination tasks straight onto Shang Zhitao.

Lumi dragged her chair over to Shang Zhitao's desk, sat down, and asked, "Why did you cancel your leave early? Wouldn't it have been so much nicer to take a nice long break extending through the weekend?"

"All my roommates left, there's no point in me staying alone."

"Oh... don't go drinking anymore, you hear me!" Lumi said with a hint of swagger. "With that tiny alcohol tolerance, why would you even dare show your face out there?"

"Never again, never again." If I drink again, who knows what kind of trouble I'll cause! Mulling it over, Shang Zhitao leaned in and asked Lumi in a hushed whisper, "That night you dropped me off at home... I didn't say anything... crazy, did I?"

"You think talking about how good your sexual stamina is counts as talking crazy?" Lumi lowered her voice. "Shang Zhitao, I seriously never would've guessed. You're so well-behaved normally, but once you get some alcohol in you, you're quite the wild card!"

"No way!..."

"Tell you what, let me know the next time you plan on drinking so I can bring a video camera. Tsk tsk tsk." Shaking her head, Lumi wheeled herself back to her cubicle, leaving Shang Zhitao sitting there with a face as white as a sheet.

A moment later, remembering the actual reason she came over, Lumi skidded her chair back to Shang Zhitao's side. "This anniversary project is actually a great gig. Even though it's tedious and doesn't count toward your formal KPI, you can use the opportunity to get chummy with the bosses from every department. Since all the department heads are teaming up for a joint performance this year, Luke is doing a solo act too."

"Luke? Performing a solo act?" What kind of act could Luke possibly put on? A deadpan facial expression showcase? Shang Zhitao muttered inwardly.

"Well, I have no idea about that. He's always refused to participate in these things before, said Tracy railroaded him into it this year."

"Oh, oh, oh. So what am I supposed to do?"

"Tracy's going to set up the project group chat on the intranet later. I can't take you with me on this project, but if anything comes up, you can go straight to Tracy."

"Got it. Thanks, Lumi."

"Don't mention it."

As soon as Lumi finished talking business, her expression shifted entirely. Leaning in close, she whispered to Shang Zhitao, "Have you seen it?"

"Seen what?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, it's absolute prime entertainment." Pulling her laptop over and wrapping an arm around Shang Zhitao's shoulder, Lumi hissed, "Shh!"

Shang Zhitao lowered her gaze to the screen. Holy crap, this really is prime entertainment. The email openly and brazenly accused Lingmei's newly appointed CEO of blatantly toying with a woman's affections and driving an ex-girlfriend to attempt suicide. Wide-eyed, Shang Zhitao looked at Lumi, her immediate reaction being: "Why didn't I get this?"

"They probably managed to harvest our company's employee email directory from somewhere and blasted it out to a selected batch." Lumi closed her laptop and curled her lip. "An inside job, for sure!" Their company culture was vibrant indeed; no sooner had Luan Nian been appointed than someone reported him for misconduct and leaked it to the corporate email system. Without an inside source, how else could anyone get their hands on the employee distribution list?

"Do you believe it?" Lumi asked her.

Shang Zhitao nodded decisively. I totally believe it! She desperately wanted to tell Lumi, I've actually listened to Luke's breakup calls! I've even heard Luke inviting a woman to a concert! I saw a woman walk straight into Luke's room in Guangzhou! But in the end, she kept all of it to herself, shook her head, and said, "I don't really know him that well..."

"Never mind, it has nothing to do with us anyway. If Tracy finds out, she'll launch an internal audit investigation. Our company takes this kind of stuff very seriously." With a pat on Shang Zhitao's arm, Lumi jutted her chin toward Luan Nian's office. "Look, right on cue."

Shang Zhitao raised her head and saw Tracy walking into Luan Nian's office.

"What is it?" Luan Nian looked up to ask her.

Tracy dropped the printed email right in front of Luke. "Take a look. I certainly didn't expect such blockbuster entertainment right on Monday morning."

Seeing Zhang Xin's real-name email, complete with highly compromising photos of a man and a woman in an intimate embrace, Luan Nian shrugged. "I don't happen to have this particular hobby."

"Whether you do or not is beside the point, but since the issue is already out there, we need to deal with it today. Give me a solution." Tracy had a genuine migraine; if this wasn't resolved, Luan Nian faced the very real risk of being swept out the door.

Luan Nian tossed the sheet of paper straight into the wastebasket. "Did anyone else get this besides you?"

"I had IT check. 30% of our colleagues received it."

"So how did she get her hands on our employee roster? Sounds like a screw-up on your end." Luan Nian leaned back in his chair, fixing his gaze on Tracy. "Did you guys sell off employee data or something?"

"We're talking about your mess, don't try to splash dirty water on me. Employee data can leak from any number of places."

"Then why aren't you investigating?"

"Right now, we're talking about your problem. Can you fix it?"

"Sure." Luan Nian smiled. "Find another woman to step forward, send out another email claiming this one is fake, and state that my physique isn't nearly that unflattering."

... Tracy laughed in sheer exasperation at Luan Nian's attitude. "If you aren't going to take this seriously, I'll have no choice but to call for an internal audit and legal investigation."

"Agreed." Luan Nian gave a nod. "Hurry up and investigate. If there's any defamatory damage to my reputation, have the company sue whoever needs suing."

"Fine." Letting out a sigh, Tracy turned and walked out.

Luan Nian watched her go, and as he pulled his gaze back, he noticed employees passing by his office throwing him deeply meaningful looks. He remained entirely indifferent, preparing to resume work. But what was up with Shang Zhitao? She had just sent him a message: "Luke, I believe you."

Upward management, I suppose, Shang Zhitao thought to herself. It meant showing support when the boss ran into trouble, even if she secretly suspected the email content might actually be true! Though those photos were a bit disappointing—despite Luke always dressing sharp, stripping down apparently didn't reveal anything all that special.

Luan Nian had witnessed this shallow display of insincerity firsthand; she was an ungratifiable, ungrateful little wolf. Giving the direction of her cubicle a cold glare, he lowered his head and went back to work.

Believing her upward management quota had been successfully fulfilled, Shang Zhitao prepared to focus wholeheartedly on her tasks. Alex instructed her to wrap up the collection of all the bosses' talent performances by today. The other department heads were exceptionally cooperative; among the six department leads putting on two programs, everything was tallied up in under five minutes. The only holdout was Luan Nian.

So she messaged Luan Nian again: "Luke, I know you must be in a bad mood, but I will always support you. Here's the thing—we need to finalize your performance content for the anniversary celebration today, so could you please give me a rough idea?"

"Shang Zhitao."

"Boss, I'm here! Do you have any instructions?"

"Pack your things and get lost!"

Shang Zhitao knew Luan Nian well enough by now not to panic nearly as much as she used to. Luan Nian had threatened to fire her plenty of times, but none of those instances had ever resulted in actual dismissal. Give him a moment, and he'd forget all about it.

Besides, he was in a foul mood today, so blowing off steam at her was only to be expected; she accepted it entirely.

"So... what program are you performing?" she bravely pursued the question anyway.

Damn it. Luan Nian cursed mentally. What was wrong with this woman Shang Zhitao? Why was she so infuriatingly dense? Luan Nian was usually the one driving everyone else crazy, yet today he was being driven up the wall by someone as brainless as Shang Zhitao.

He kept a stone-cold face and refused to reply. Strangely enough, while reading Zhang Xin's grammatically mangled, sleazy emails hadn't angered him in the slightest, Shang Zhitao's two casual remarks had managed to push him right over the edge.

By the end of the workday, he still hadn't replied to Shang Zhitao. After Alex asked her about the status for the third time, Shang Zhitao finally lost her patience and decided to track Luan Nian down. Standing at his doorway, she asked his secretary, "Is Luke free right now?"

The secretary picked up the phone, dialed Luan Nian's office, and then delivered the verdict to Shang Zhitao with a slightly apologetic look. "Luke says anyone except you." Even before hanging up, Luan Nian could be heard telling the secretary through the line, "Repeat it to her word for word." Just how much must you detest someone to do that? The secretary felt a brief wave of sympathy for Shang Zhitao.

"Oh, right, thank you." Retracking her steps back to her cubicle, Shang Zhitao settled in to wait. It was past twelve o'clock when Luan Nian finally emerged from his office, finding the workspace entirely deserted. Spotting him heading toward the exit, Shang Zhitao hurriedly snatched up her backpack and scurried after him. "Are you heading off, Luke?"

"Don't you have anything else to do with your day?" Luan Nian asked without turning his head, his pace unyielding.

Jogging to keep up while letting out a light chuckle, Shang Zhitao replied, "Not really, plenty of work on my plate, but Tracy and Alex have asked about your performance multiple times."

As they stepped into the elevator, Shang Zhitao found herself slightly out of breath from chasing after him.

"Luke, you..."

"Shang Zhitao," Luan Nian interrupted, calling her name. "Want to know what you told me the night before last?"

"Ah..."

"You said you wanted to sleep with me. You also said that although you weren't much to look at, your figure was great, and that your ex-boyfriend claimed you had hidden depths. You strongly suggested I try sleeping with you once."

The elevator doors chimed open. Luan Nian stepped out, took a couple of steps, then turned back around. Reaching out a hand to block the closing elevator doors, he locked eyes with Shang Zhitao, whose face had bloomed into the color of a ripe peach. "Not getting off?"

Shang Zhitao wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole. Back when she was drinking, Yao Bei kept telling her: If you feel a spark of attraction toward someone, never hold it back. We're all adults; as long as you don't violate moral boundaries, everything else is fair game. While you're young, experience as much as you can. Every single time Yao Bei said those words, Shang Zhitao's mind instantly conjured up Luan Nian.

Luan Nian was in a remarkably good mood. Putting an idiot like you in your place is child's play. The foolish stunts you pull are punishment enough to make you regret it for a lifetime. Lowering his gaze as Shang Zhitao stumbled out of the elevator with a flushed face, he couldn't help letting out a soft, mocking scoff from the back of his throat.

They parted ways at the exit. When he retrieved his car and drove out, Shang Zhitao was naturally struggling to flag down a cab. Slamming on the brakes right in front of her, he rolled down the window. "Get in."

"No, no, it's fine." Shang Zhitao frantically waved her hands. Luan Nian didn't bother wasting his breath and simply started to drive off. Get in or don't, what do I care? Checking his rearview mirror, he saw Shang Zhitao's figure shrinking into the distance. The sudden autumn wind picked up, making her look rather pitiful, so he hit the brakes, backed up, and pulled over again. "Are you getting in or not?"

"I am!" With this thin jacket on, I'd better not catch a cold.

Sitting inside Luan Nian's car, Shang Zhitao felt a tightness in her chest. She wanted to offer a bit of self-defense. "Luke, here's the thing... I was drunk the other night... I might have talked some nonsense, please don't take it to heart."

"So I'm your sexual fantasy object?" Luan Nian tilted his face to look at Shang Zhitao. "You think about me when you masturbate?" Having spent many years abroad, open-ended topics of this nature held zero taboo for him. Besides, this dunderhead Shang Zhitao looked all obedient and sensible on the outside, yet harbored a mind full of wildly uninhibited thoughts—she was quite entertaining.

"I..."

"You what? Want to come home with me instead?" Luan Nian continued teasing her. "Anyway, I've been single for a while now. Let's keep things casual with no strings attached, how about that?"

"No thanks, no thanks." Shang Zhitao waved her hands frantically. "Let's not wrong your precious girlfriend."

"I'm helping you fulfill a wish, all you need to do is say thank you. No need to be so polite."

"Harassing your subordinates like this isn't very professional, you know."

"Is that so?"

Luan Nian pulled out his phone, tapped play on an audio recording, and let Shang Zhitao hear her own slurred voice: "I really want to sleep with you once..." Flustered, she snatched the phone right out of his hand, hammered the pause button, and hurled the device back onto his lap.

"So, exactly who is harassing whom?"

"I'm harassing you, I'm harassing you, I was wrong." Shang Zhitao raised her hands in total surrender. "I admit I was a little restless that night, but I'd never harbor thoughts like that when I'm sober. Please believe me."

"People only dare speak the truth when they're drunk."

"Really not, really not." Shang Zhitao waved her hands dismissively. "Luke, could you please drop me off by the roadside? I'm meeting someone around here..."

Spotting the subway station up ahead, Luan Nian pulled the car over to the curb. Watching Shang Zhitao scramble out of the vehicle and flee in a panic, he burst into a hearty laugh.